Safe Alternatives to the Vitamin K Shot

Many parents have reservations about the vitamin K shot, which is normally given just after birth. Most often this is due to concerns about preservatives or other ingredients in the shot, discomfort about giving their children a needle stick, or both. For parents hoping to forego this early intervention, are there other options out there?

What is Vitamin K - and why do babies need it?

When we get bumps and scrapes, blood vessels break open and they bleed. The main way our bodies have to stop all that bleeding is by making a blood clot, which is a sticky web of fibers and blood cells that can patch and plug up any holes. Vitamin K is a nutrient that the body needs to produce the sticky fibers that hold a blood clot together. Without enough vitamin K, the body can’t make a good plug - so even a small injury can bleed a dangerous amount. ​

All babies are born with low vitamin K because vitamin K has a hard time crossing the placenta. It also can be hard to get vitamin K through breast milk, so babies who are breastfed without any vitamin K supplementation often remain low in vitamin K till they start eating solid foods.​

Low vitamin K causes bleeding in around 1% of babies who don’t get vitamin K supplementation. Vitamin K deficient bleeding (also called VKDB) can cause internal bleeding in the intestines, or worse, in the brain. In addition, the first few weeks of life aren’t the only time a baby is at risk for VKDB - a small fraction of babies can have what’s called late-onset VKDB, as much as six months after they are born.

Before we go on, because the above is a terrifying thought, I just want to say that it is VERY EASY to supplement a newborn’s vitamin K levels, with or without a vitamin K injection. Read on to find out more.

Concerns with the Vitamin K Shot

The two main concerns most people have about the vitamin K shot are toxic preservatives and increased risk of leukemia. Read more on each of those below.

What Preservatives are in the Vitamin K Shot?

There are two kinds if vitamin K shot - a form with preservatives and the “preservative free” shot (which still contains several preservatives, but the preservatives used are considered non-toxic). If you aren’t sure which shot your hospital, birthing center, or midwife uses, make sure to ask before you go into labor.

Here are the ingredients of the regular vitamin K shot:

Synthetic vitamin K (Phytonadione)

Polyoxyethylated fatty acid derivative (derived from castor oil)

Dextrose monohydrate (glucose)

Water

Benzyl alchohol

Hydrochloric acid

Here are the ingredients of the “preservative free” shot:

Synthetic vitamin K (Phytonadione)

Polysorbate 80

Propylene glycol

Sodium acetate anhydrous

Glacial acetic acid (vinegar)

Most of the ingredients in the “preservative free” version of the shot are at low enough levels that they are considered safe. However, Polysorbate 80 has been associated with sterility in rats - many people, myself included, feel like this additive should be studied further in humans before we consider it safe for our kids.

The Vitamin K shot and leukemia

A 1992 study showed an increased risk of childhood leukemia in kids who got the vitamin K shot vs kids who got oral vitamin K. But there were a few issues with this study - the major one being that it was a small study of only a few hundred kids, which may not have been enough to rule out cofounding factors. For example, while the kids in the group with cancer were slightly more likely to have had the vitamin K shot, they were also more likely to have a mom that smoked cigarettes while pregnant (most of these kids were in utero during the 70’s and 80’s, when that kind of thing was still common). Several also had their abdomens x-rayed during pregnancy, which may have increased cancer risk for their kids later in childhood.

When this study came out it caused a lot of alarm and several much larger studies were done to see if the correlation held out. Larger studies didn’t show any correlation between the vitamin K shot and leukemia or any other cancers, but the question of correlation is enough to make a lot of parents opt for non-injection sources of vitamin K for their infants.

Easy alternatives to Injectable Vitamin K

There are several alternatives to the shot, and they are very easy and low risk. The two best-studied ways of supplementing vitamin K are:

- Vitamin K Drops.A well done study in Denmark showed that supplementation with 1mg vitamin K via oral drops once per week was just as effective as the vitamin K shot at birth for preventing vitamin K deficient bleeding. Giving these drops is easy - just one drop per week directly into the mouth or bottle is all it takes. I like to use Bio-K-Mulsion by Biotics Research, if you have another brand in mind, just ask your doctor or midwife first to make sure it's the right product and that it comes from a reputable source

- Supplementing the Breastfeeding Parent.In order to get breast milk up to the levels babies need, a breastfeeding parent can take around 5mg of vitamin K per day. While this is much higher than the daily recommended amount for adults (about 56 times higher, to be exact), it’s still considered non-toxic at this dose, and it’s enough to get levels in breast milk high enough to supplement baby’s vitamin K levels.

Other ways to support Vitamin K Levels

Probiotics may also help infants increase their vitamin K levels, especially with babies delivered via cesarian section. Gut bacteria helps create vitamin K for the body - by the time a baby is on solid foods, about 10% of the vitamin K they need can be produced by bacteria, while foods they eat provide them with the other 90%.

Deciding whether or not to give the vitamin K shot to your newborn is just one of so many (often nerve-racking) decisions new parents have to make in a baby's first week of life. Fortunately with a little guidance and support from your holistic health care provider, there are plenty of ways to make sure your newborn is protected from VKDB in a safe, non-toxic way. ​

Want Dr Silver’s help with vitamin K supplementation or any of your litle one's other health-related needs? Call 248-397-4664 or click this link today to set up an appointment for a visit or a free 15 minute phone consult.

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Dr Silver is a board certified Naturopathic Doctor in the Detroit metro area.

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​This blog is intended for educational purposes only.Information expressed herein does not constitute medical advice and in no way should be used as a substitute for the advice and attention of a qualified medical practitioner.

While most states offer medical licensing to naturopathic doctors, Michigan does not currently offer licensure to ND's.Until Michigan's licensing bill is passed, naturopathic medicine in Michigan is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.Because of this Dr Silver's medical licensed is issued by the state of Vermont and he works locally under the title Naturopathic Health Consultant.